Refuting anti-LGBT arguments

Over the years mostly right wing and religious nuts have come up with arguments against the LGBTQIA+ community. Some arguments include: "Being LGBT is sinful", "Marriage is a sacred bond between a man and a woman", and "Being gay or transgender is a mental illness". These arguments have no scientific or historical basis and this type of intolerance can lead LGBTQIA+ people to commit suicide or to major mental health issues.[1] This article will cover arguments against the LGBT community and refute them in an academic and scientific, as well as somewhat religious, manner (i.e., theological arguments against transphobia). These arguments range from seemingly intelligent to downright bullshit. Many arguments are derived from twisting around neuroscience/psychology (or science in general) and twisting around religious concepts.

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Religious arguments[2][3]

Note: There were no (distorted) biblical arguments against transgender people.

Also note that in secular society, if one is arguing for legality related to LGBTQIA+, these arguments are moot by violating the Establishment Clause or its equivalent.

Religious ArgumentRational Refutation
Being gay is going against God's PlanIf homosexuality were against God's plan, God wouldn't have created it or allowed it to exist in the first place.
"Men committed indecent acts with other men, and received in themselves the due penalty for their perversion" (Romans 1:26-27).

"If a man lies with a man as one lies with a woman, both of them have done what is detestable. They must be put to death; their blood will be on their own heads" (Leviticus 20:13)

This is a common verse used against gays and there's no way to argue around the existence of anti-homosexuality in the passages.[note 1] In the end, the writers of the Bible were products of their time, just as with the Qur'an. In fact, the Bible condones many actions considered immoral by today's standards.

God hates gaysHowever, Jesus stated in (John 13:34), "A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another". This clearly means that people are supposed to care about each other despite differences. Besides, He also hates shrimp, but plenty of Christians have dinner at Red Lobster.
Marriage is a holy unionMarriage was around long before Christianity.[4] Tribal people worldwide had marriages and ancient empires such as the Mayan Empire in what is now Mexico had marriages and those people formed unions before the Christian religion. Before Christianity took over, in the Roman Empire, marriage was a civic institution.

Scientific and social arguments
Anti-LGBTQIA+ ArgumentRational Refutation
Lesbians, Gays, Bisexuals, Transgenders, Queers, Intersexs, Asexuals, and other sexual minorities are mentally illSorry, but the American Psychological Association and the American Psychiatric Association have dropped homosexuality[5] and transsexualism[6] as mental illness through up-to-date scientific research and protests. Importantly, these attitudes are the reason these minorities are correlated with mental diseases, so some self-reflection is recommended. This is also not going into the further stigmatization of mental illnesses by treating humans with these like subhuman freaks.
You choose your sexualityWrong, sexuality is deterministic, by genes, epigenetics, and/or from hormonal differences due to birth order.[7]
Transgender people are only confused about their sexuality caused by the liberal mediaWrong again! At first someone may be confused but a person learns their gender identity over time. This varies from person to person because gender identity has a biological basis, while someone is physically male or female, in terms of biochemistry a transgender person's brain is wired as the opposite gender (so to speak).[8] There is a long history of transgender individuals across many countries and cultures, far beyond the reach of "liberal media".[9][10]
LGBTQIA+ people need to be sent to a mental hospital by force.An extension of the first argument, more or less. First, being LGBT is not considered mental illness any more (as per the current Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders). Second, being different does not affect you in any way. Finally, that would be a civil rights violation considering that the United States Constitution states, "A person may not be denied life, liberty or property without due process". Plus the Bill of Rights allows for Freedom of Expression. Page text.[11]
Gays are not naturalThis argument also gets mixed in with religious arguments saying, "God made sex for procreation" or some variant of this. As for it being "unnatural", homosexuality has been observed in many other animal species[12] while homophobia has been observed in only one subspecies (Homo sapiens sapiens). Nature isn't either a reference for morals, since murder is ubiquitous, essential for survival for carnivores, and, thus, perfectly natural. Sex is certainly not solely for procreation, as rape in other animal species exists.
Children exposed to LGBT representation in school or children's programming will be confused

Ignorance is bliss, right? Not only is there very little evidence for this claim, it's also counter-intuitive. Children who are taught about LGBT issues tend to become more accepting adults, are exposed to less homophobic bullying, and knowing what they're into can cause less unhappy "incompatible orientation" relationships later in life. In contrast, actively hiding information about entire groups of people tends to confuse LGBT youth, who won't know why they're interested in members of the same sex and think something's "wrong" with them

There are only two genders

This is one of the Internet's favorite mantas going as far as several YouTube personal sporting this phrase at pride parades.[13] This phrase is usually followed along with the "I sexually identify as a [insert anything but human here]" where it implies that having no limits to gender identity will problematic somehow. It's also frequently repeated that chromosomes determine gender identity which is also ignorant of intersex persons. If someone is born with an XXY chromosome, what would they be? They can't be male because they have an extra X nor female if they have a Y chromosome based on the traditional definition.

LGBT+ people raising familes is child abuse

This happens to be one of the most braindead sociological arguments against LGBT+ people everywhere. The general idea is that LGBT+ parents will imprint their sexuality and or gender identity onto any possible children. What someone does with another consenting adult or what gender they see themselves as is none of a bigot's business. [14]. What matters is if the children are happy, not suffering physical, mental or sexual abuse, are well taken care of and have a roof over their head.

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Notes
  1. Besides trying argue that lie was meant to mean "deceive" instead of "lie down" (have sex). Cranks will point to it as a mistranslation while never attempting to translate the original piece.

References
  1. http://www.thetrevorproject.org/pages/facts-about-suicide
  2. What the Bible Says About… Homosexuality Christian Teens section in About.com
  3. http://www.thebiblepage.org/biblesays/homosexuality.php
  4. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/raina-bowe/if-not-gods-authority-who_b_8090588.html
  5. https://psychiatry.org/news-room/apa-blogs/apa-blog/2016/03/homosexuality-as-a-mental-disorder-simply-not-backed-up-by-science
  6. http://www.apa.org/topics/lgbt/transgender.aspx
  7. http://www.sciencemag.org/news/2015/10/homosexuality-may-be-caused-chemical-modifications-dna
  8. https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2015/02/150213112317.htm
  9. See the Wikipedia article on Transgender history.
  10. A MAP OF GENDER-DIVERSE CULTURES, PBS, August 11, 2015
  11. https://www.law.cornell.edu/constitution/billofrights Link text, additional text.
  12. http://www.yalescientific.org/2012/03/do-animals-exhibit-homosexuality/
  13. Trolling the PRIDE MARCH!, Hunter Avallone, June 11, 2018
  14. Link text, TFP Student Action.
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